The Sixth National Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations: Partnerships for the future: Supporting practitioners and advancing the field through innovation, policy and research (Sixth National Conference) will convene September 21-24, 2008 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Over the past five conferences, 2700 attendees from the US and abroad have participated in more than 250 conference sessions delivered by over 750 speakers. The Sixth National Conference will continue the series and engage providers, communities, and policymakers to confront the challenges of addressing the health care needs of diverse populations. In recognition of the tenth anniversary of the conference series, the goal of the Sixth National Conference is to assess the progress made in both practice and policy, and to chart a course for the future that builds on the field's strengths of grassroots and national level innovation, collaboration, and information sharing. The conference will start with a historical look at the people, policies and influential forces that helped bring attention to the health care needs of culturally diverse populations. This will be complemented by a discussion of trends affecting future work in this area, including health care politics, financing, and scientific advancements, as well as the global political and environmental forces that impact migration. The Sixth National Conference will focus on three main objectives: addressing the needs and concerns that affect day-to-day practice at the clinical, organizational and community level; continuing the integration of cultural competence/disparity reduction into mainstream healthcare priorities; and developing a vision for advancing the field. The focus of this year's conference reflects the growing acknowledgement that collaborative engagement in conducting investigations, developing programs, and advancing initiatives at the national and state levels, is critical to developing new and innovative strategies to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health care. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]